Avoidance - As Seen on TV

I'm avoiding thinking about THE THING. I just can't deal with it right now - I'm not sure why. I may deal with it tomorrow, but not yesterday and not today.

So, since I don't have anything to report about THE THING, I figured I'd update you on how all the As Seen On TV product testing went this past week.

For those of you who missed it, the original post is here.

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I actually got around to using all three of my fabulous presents, and got a pretty good idea of whether I liked them or not, this week. This is their performance appraisal, with photos if I can get them to work. (am I the only one who has trouble posting photos without weird spacing and other issues?)

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THE PANCAKE PUFF MAKER - I made plain pancake puffs, and some filled pancake puffs, and I must say they tasted good. Like regular pancakes. EXACTLY like regular pancakes. I think this is because they ARE regular pancakes - only cooked in this weird shaped pan. The big problem was that the demonstration on TV makes it look so easy, which is completely inaccurate. You know how that cute lady takes the little wooden skewers, and gently nudges one side of the puff, and it oh-so-easily flips over perfectly? And then, when she tosses them into the dish, they're all perfectly round? Mine? Not so much.

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Here we go. So far so good. I learned with the first batch not to fill the wells so full (they said 3/4 full in the recipe, and I think it should have been more like 2/3).

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After I flipped them over - not so good. It looked so easy on TV!

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Second attempt. A little better, but you can see a couple of them didn't want to turn. Trying to get them to flip over exactly halfway was impossible. And it seemed like if you waited until the middle was cooked enough to not make it spill out when you flipped them, they were overcooked on the first side. And those itty-bitty wooden skewers? USELESS!

. Here were some of the finished products. With syrup, or with strawberry filling, they were yummy. Just like pancakes. Imagine that.

DEBBIE MEYER GREEN BAGS - As an experiment, I bought a bunch of bananas and put half of them in the DMGB, and the other half I left in the basket I keep on my counter, and left them there for a week. I am thrilled to report that the bananas kept in the DMGB were in MUCH BETTER SHAPE after 7 days. They actually looked just perfect for eating. Which someone did. So I didn't get a picture. You'll have to take my word for it, and I haven't gathered a LOT of evidence yet, but I'd have to recommend these. If they work this well on all the other produce, they're worth it. I have brocolli and mushrooms in bags right now, so we'll see how those hold up. These bags will come in really handy during the summer when I have more fresh fruits and vegetables around.

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THE SHAM-WOW - I have wanted one of these things forever. I can't tell you how excited I was to try it out. I have to tell you, though, that Sham Wow Guy is a BIG FAT LIAR. First of all, who would have thought that you would have to read the directions on a SHAM WOW??? I mean, it's a rag, right? What exactly would the instructions say, "use like a rag?" Silly me. Have you noticed on the commercial, when Sham Wow Guy says, 'you can wash them right in the washing machine' and they show them being thrown into the machine? Well, evidently, you can wash them in the washer, but you're not supposed to dry them in the dryer. 'Cause if you do, this is what happens.

New, thick ShamWow on left. Washed and dried, much smaller, much thinner, much less thirsty Sham Wow on right.

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Even when it was new, it really never worked for me the way it looks on TV. It's not as thirsty as I was expecting. You can't drop in onto a spill and have it just suck up all the liquid and leave the surface underneath all dry. It does sop up liquid - maybe not as easily as shown, but it does. It works like a rag. Like a really good rag. I wish I hadn't laundered three of them before I found out I wasn't supposed to dry them.

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Sham Wow Guy, you let me down. But you're good at what you do, because I totally bought into it (and convinced somebody to actually BUY them for me). I have to admit, I still get a little charge out of it every time I pull one out to use...in my head I'm thinking, "sham-WOW!!!" just like on TV.